General Interest Articles from our 2006 Grapevine Newsletter
From Our President • Secretary's Report • Grant Awards • Katrina Kids Relief Tour
MEMBERSHIP: THE YEAR AHEAD
Jenifer Strauss, President
With the coming new year, we at Northlands are starting a new tradition. After the January Board meeting, you will receive the Grapevine Newsletter, delivered by an archaic and yet effective system called the US Mail. As in the past, we feel that it is important to get Northland's news "in hand" at least twice a year; the hands-on newsletter in the winter, and the Northlands Journal in the spring. Not only is the Grapevine filled with important Northlands news and information but, it is a tool for the board of directors to communicate with you, our membership, in a better way.
Starting with this Grapevine newsletter, we will be providing you with not only the prior "Year In Review" but also "Highlights for the Year Ahead". In addition to the ongoing e-mail announcements from our business office and the Grapevine Newsletter, the President and the Business Manager will provide you with an Electronic Newsletter after each of the other three board meetings, to keep you up to date with Northlands.
At the 2005 Northlands Conference we heard your suggestion to find more ways to communicate with and involve membership. We have listened to your requests and have taken action in the follow ways (see the Year End Report for more details).
- Membership input on story/teller selection and emceeing for Midwest StoryFest! Concerts.
- Membership input from each state, evaluating workshop proposals for selection for the annual conference.
- Question and Answer session with the Board of Directors at our Annual Conference.
- Thursday night "5-5-5 Concert": Five Tellers From Five States for Five Minutes.
- Updated all-inclusive website including the new "Ride Share/Room Share Board"
- Sales opportunities for members in our Resource Room.
- Piloting the Fiscal Agent Program for our membership.
The board is busy planning and preparing for our 2006 Northlands Conference: "Join the Circle" and the second annual Northlands Midwest StoryFest! ("GOT STORY?"). President Elect, Kevin Strauss is our Conference Chair. All committees are in place and tasks assigned. We are excited about offering you another year of Inspiring Intensives, Wonderful Workshops, Creative Concerts, and of course ... the chance to Network and Link with old and new friends and storytelling opportunities.
Come to Madison this year for the Northlands Conference and Midwest StoryFest and "JOIN THE CIRCLE".
GRANT AWARDS
RiverWay 2006, Iowa – $250 to be used towards storyteller honorariums to tell river and railroad stories at the Railroad Crossing Festival in September, 2006.
Katrina Kids Relief Tour – $250 to Reid Miller to help bring hope and encouragement to youth and families who survived hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
KATRINA KIDS RELIEF TOUR
Northlands Storytelling Network is serving as the non-profit fiscal agent for Reid Miller's Katrina Kids Relief Tour. Please consider donating to this effort. Information can be found on Reid's blog: www.blognet.info/weblogs/?u=katrinakidsrelief
The Katrina Kids Relief Tour will bring hope and encouragement to youth and families who survived hurricanes Katrina and Rita with concerts of puppetry, music, and storytelling in community schools, churches, youth centers, senior centers and relief shelters in affected areas. The U.S. Dept of Education estimates over 370,000 K-12 youngsters were affected by Katrina and Rita in Louisiana alone.
Reid Miller, Relief Tour performer and project director, is a veteran family entertainer who has given thousands of concerts in a career spanning nearly 30 years. He has recorded numerous albums of songs and tales. Reid grew up, graduated from High School, attended University (studying literature and communication arts), worked, lived in and has friends and relatives in Louisiana. He has a deep appreciation for and broad perspective on life, culture and traditions of its peoples. He is uniquely prepared to render the services the Tour will provide.
In addition to giving performances, the Tour is collecting and distributing new and used books and stuffed animals in good condition to young hurricane victims.
Secretary's Report: 2005 IN REVIEW
by Gwyn Calvetti
Financial Issues
Good stewardship of our finances continues to be a prime consideration in all decisions involving money. The Board continues to look for ways to give members great value for their membership dollars. It is worth noting that those serving on the Board do so at their own personal expense, both in terms of time and money. There is some money in the budget to cover some general meeting expenses, but most of the costs are borne by the members of the Board. Not all of the membership may realize this, and it speaks to the commitment of this organization that members will step forth to do the business of Northlands without expectation of financial benefits. That said, we can be proud that Northlands is now operating in the black, poised to move forward and take the art further.
- Northlands made a profit of $237.75 last year.
- Treasurer Tina Rohde and Karen Wollscheid presented a balanced Proposed 2006 Budget. Budget approved after line by line discussion at November 2005 meeting.
- Fiscal agency program was explored and approved allowing Northlands to act as fiscal agent for approved programs as a membership benefit. This program is being piloted with Reid Miller's "Katrina Kids' Relief Tour." The Fiscal Agency Process was approved in November:
- Groups can apply if project manager is member of Northlands.
- Northlands receives fiscal agency fee: 10% of collected funds and $25 fee per project renewable annually.
- Change of name from "Apprentice" to "New Voices" arose from the young adults themselves. Ages included are 18-29 and are differentiated from Youth Tellers who are 12-17. There will be maximum of 4 New Voices Scholarships for 2006 conference depending on real cost of scholarship to Northlands.
Annual Conference
- The Board reviewed many excellent workshop proposals for our 2006 Conference. This year, in addition to Board members reviewing proposals, a panel of Northlands members was also given proposals to review and score.
- Conference Theme is "Join the Circle." Our more visually creative Board members have designed a logo for this year's conference and all Board members are excited at the variety and quality of workshops chosen for the conference. The concert series will continue to be marketed separately to the community at large as the Midwest StoryFest, and the marketing committee has been hard at work making contacts and arranging PR for the concerts. The Sunday afternoon concert in particular drew in people not part of our conference, and we hope this will continue to grow.
- Offering graduate credits for the conference. Greg shared an offer from Jane Stenson to extend grad credits through National Louis University, with Jane acting as professor of note. This is a new feature to the conference, and hopefully will help build membership and conference attendance, inviting educators into the circle of storytelling.
Communication
- Breakfast with Board will be a regular aspect of the conference. Much good communication and good ideas came out of this last year and the Board agrees this is an important forum to provide to our members.
- State reps continue to offer regular newsletter/email notification to their members following Board meetings.
- New members have been joining throughout the year. Some are lapsed members, but many are new to Northlands. Board members carry convenient information cards about Northlands and our conference, hand them out freely throughout the year, and it appears they may be effective.
- We continue to have members and conference attendees join us from well out of our five state region. This reflects on the reputation our organization has gained nationally as one that provides a meaningful and worthwhile conference experience.